❝I would burn for all eternity to feel your touch once more.❞
Former mafia member now turned barista, Lorenzo Castello, is running away from his family to grieve a sudden loss when he meets a paramedic with no impulse control that turns his world up...
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EMBRACING THE MAFIA don life had been easier than what Lorenzo expected. Mostly that had to do with the fact that his brother – even though seven years younger than him – stayed by his side, no matter what. The two brothers had made a small yet important to the both of them pact; no more secrets.
And life had moved on without either of them breaking it, not even for a split second. Running the mafia in his own way made him feel lighter and, in a way, happier too. He didn't give out kill orders unless absolutely necessary and also expanded his hotel business which also helped him a lot with paying his father's debts.
The first thing Lorenzo had to deal when he stepped foot in Italy where the Facinellis and every other family his father had destroyed. Vitale had sworn to make his life a living hell but with his diplomatic abilities and a somewhat threat to end the rest of his family if he didn't agree to his deal, Lorenzo finally managed to make peace with him.
Sure, his family still hated him – he didn't think there was a way of stopping that but at least, they no longer killed his people and that was okay with him. He didn't really care about Diana's death stares every time he ran into her nor did he care about her brother's, Marco, eye-rolls and inappropriate hand gestures because he wasn't immature like they were. He was a mafia don now and he was sure as hell going to act like it.
But in no way was he going to follow after his old man's footsteps.
Being a mafia don meant a new beginning to Lorenzo and he was going to cherish that. He wasn't going to be paranoid and murderous as his father but cautious and forgiving – though that didn't mean he was going to be lenient with them. Crossing him was going to be their worst nightmare, he had made sure to tell them that when he first took over and he was glad that everyone took his threat seriously.
His father had been crazy but thinking about him wasn't something he would do frequently. He would only do so when he would stop by the graveyard where his whole family was buried and see his name right next to his mom's. He had made sure his nonno and nonna would be buried right next to them together while his little sister's grave was in the middle, protected by everyone as always.
Lorenzo had found out every single plan his father had come up with while he was in San Francisco. How he used Pietro to guilt-trip him into coming home, how he would use his computer to send him messages saying he was Pietro while he would have his youngest son locked in his closet so that he wouldn't interfere. But the worst thing his father had done, in his opinion, was using Pietro's girlfriend as blackmail for his son to fly to America and burn his older brother's apartment.
Pietro had told him that he wouldn't believe their father about him breaking the code of silence because he didn't think that his brother would ever do such a thing which had caused Adolfo to come up with another plan of revenge.
He had men stalk Pietro's girlfriend and he used her to have him do all of his dirty deeds even though he didn't want to. He had him burn his house, track him down again after he moved in with Gia and then kidnap said girl and leave that note on the coffee table while he sat behind his oak desk – which Lorenzo had burnt the second he saw it.
